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We went to both houses and called as we went home
so as to begin neighboring with them. Magnus
stopped at his own place, and I went on, wondering
if the Frost boy I had engaged to look out for my stock
while I was gone had been true to his trust.
I saw that there had been a lot of redding up done;
and as I came around the corner of the house I heard
sounds within as of some one at the housework.
The door was open, and as I peeped in, there, of all
people, was Grandma Thorndyke, putting the last touches
to a general house-cleaning.

The floor was newly scrubbed, the dishes set away
in order, and all clean. The churn was always
clean inwardly, but she had scoured it on the outside.
There was a geranium in bloom in the window, which
was as clear as glass could be made. The bed
was made up on a different plan from mine, and the
place where I hung my clothes had a flowered cotton
curtain in front of it, run on cords. It looked
very beautiful to me; and my pride in it rose as I
gazed upon it. Grandma Thorndyke had not heard
me coming, and gave way to her feelings as she looked
at her handiwork in her manner of talking to herself.

“That’s more like a human habitation!”
she ejaculated, standing with her hands on her hips.
“I snum! It looked like a hooraw’s
nest!”

“It looks a lot better,” I agreed.
She was startled at seeing me, for she expected to
get away, with Henderson L. Burns as he came back from
his shooting of golden plover, all unknown to me.
But we had quite a visit all by ourselves. She
said quite pointedly, that somebody had been keeping
her family in milk and butter and vegetables and chickens
and eggs all winter, and she was doing a mighty little
in repayment. Her eyes were full of tears as
she said this.

“He who gives to the poor,” said she,
“lends to the Lord; and I don’t know any
place where the Lord’s credit has been lower
than in Monterey Centre for the past winter.
Now le’me show you where things are, Jacob.”

I got all the news of the town from her. Several
people had moved in; but others had gone back east
to live with their own or their wives’ folks.
Elder Thorndyke, encouraged by the favor of “their
two rich men,” had laid plans for building a
church, and she believed their fellowship would be
blessed with greater growth if they had a consecrated
building instead of the hall where the secret societies
met. On asking who their two richest men were
she mentioned Governor Wade, of course, and Mr. Gowdy.

“Mr. Gowdy,” she ventured, “is in
a very hopeful, frame of mind. He is, I fervently
hope and believe, under conviction of sin. We
pray for him without ceasing. He would be a tower
of strength, with his ability and his wealth, if he
should, under God, turn to the right and seek salvation.
If you and he could both come into the fold, Jacob,
it would be a wonderful thing for the elder and me.”